Does punishment work?

[undergroundpanther]

Does Punishment Deter Juvenile Crime?

"Researchers note a close connection between lack of punishment and the forming of criminal habits."
"There is an inverse correlation between expected punishment and the crime rate." "Studies conclude that (1) a majority of serious crime is committed by habitual criminals and (2) punishment works, especially for juveniles." "An initial contact with the criminal justice system causes most young people to desist from criminal acts."

In the past, many judges and social workers have argued for less stringent treatment of such offenders, with "prevention" taking precedence over detention. Thus the emphasis tends to be on so-called root causes and non-punitive interventions. The results fail to bear out the hopes invested in such an approach. Researchers note a close connection between lack of punishment and the forming of criminal habits. They also note the effectiveness of punishment, especially for juveniles.In one of the most comprehensive studies following offenders and the criminal justice system over time, University of Pennsylvania criminologist Marvin Wolfgang and his colleagues found that hard-core predators were a relatively small group of repeaters who rarely were punished. 32
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

**(The charming,glib attractive manipulating socially popular bully boys are who escape punishment by charming authority figures perhaps?)** The adult bully is often charming. He or she is usually verbally confident and can be adept at using language to make his or her actions seem plausible..
http://www.endteacherabuse.info/bully.html
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Wolfgang group compiled arrest records up to the 30th birthday for two groups consisting of every male born and reared in Philadelphia in 1945 and in 1958. Their study, published in 1990, found that in both groups about 35 percent were arrested at least once for a non-traffic offense and nearly half of these never tangled with the law again. The group that turned 30 years old in 1988, however, was guilty of much more serious crime than the one that turned 30 in 1975. The two groups had two things in common: the hard-core predators were few in number and were rarely punished:

* Just 7 percent in each cohort (the top 20 percent of those arrested at least once) committed two-thirds of all violent crimes, including three out of four rapes and robberies.
* Members of this hard-core group in each cohort not only had five or more criminal arrests before age 18 but also continued committing felonies and got away with a dozen crimes for every arrest made.

The Criminal Personality. A major obstacle to the success of rehabilitation is the existence of what could be called the criminal personality. Perhaps the most important work on this subject is the three-volume study by the late Samuel Yochelson, a physician, and Stanton Samenow, a practicing psychologist. 51 After interviewing hundreds of criminals and their relatives and acquaintances, the two researchers concluded that criminals (1) have control over what they do, freely choosing evil over good, (2) have distinct personalities, described in detail as deceitful, egotistical, myopic and violent and (3) make specific errors in thinking (52 such errors are identified).

http://www.ncpa.org/bg/bg148/bg148c.html

The Psychopath

In her important study of mental illness in non-Western, primitive societies,
Murphy ( 1976) found that the Yupic-speaking Eskimos in northwest Alaska have
a name, kunlangeta, for the man who, for example, repeatedly lies and cheats and steals things and does not go hunting and, when the other men are out of the village, takes sexual advantage of many women--someone who does not pay attention to reprimands and who is always being brought to the elders for punishment. One Eskimo among the 499 on their islandwas called kunlangeta. When asked what would have happened to such a person traditionally, an Eskimo said that probably "somebody would have pushed him off the ice when nobody else was looking." (p. 1026)

Because traditional methods of socialization are so effective in tribal societies,where the extended family rather than just a particular parent-pair participate in the process, the kunlangeta probably possesses inherent peculiarities of temperament
that make him unusually intractable to socialization. Such a man I classify as a psychopath, an individual in whom the normal processes of socialization have failed to produce the mechanisms of conscience and habits of law-abidingness that normally constrain antisocial impulses.

http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&docId=26032676

No time for bullies
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C03E6DB1E38F930A25757C0A9629C8B63

[JackintheGreen]

1. To use the current political situation as an example

the American people have been punished for the last eight years, and nearly half of them are still planning on voting for more. So I'd agree with the studies basic findings.

[DCKit]

2. Are you calling Sarah Palin a bully?

The reference to glib, attractive Inuit psychopathic personalities is a dead give away.